"I think their lives have been put on hold. They have reached an impasse. It is very important for both of them to start moving on again. It is not a question of enforcing one's rights at all costs.

"In education, the soft balance approach is always the best because, ultimately, you are dealing with people's lives and futures. That is why you do not always deal with these in a legalistic manner. There are other options."

Klopper said the disciplinary hearing sat on Thursday, but the union asked the school governing body to reschedule it. He said they would ask for another postponement because the next date clashes with the court hearing.

"We applied for postponement based on the fact that we want to get a psychological investigation going, and that is taking place today [Friday]. We will use that during the disciplinary hearing as well as in the criminal charges," said Klopper.

"I think the psychological consultation, to a large extent, will direct us as to how we deal with the matter further. We have appointed our experienced legal advisor to attend to the disciplinary hearing and a Cape Town-based attorney, who is astute in criminal proceedings, to deal with criminal proceedings."

Klopper said schools need to put anger management mechanisms in place for both teachers and pupils.

In the video, the female teacher can be heard shouting at the pupil saying: "You must have a book like this, please take this as evidence. This is a disciplinary hearing now. Your phone shouldn't have been in your hand. You shouldn't have a phone. You wanna challenge me?"